It's hard not to review this film without comparing it to To the Bone, due to them tackling the same subject matter and coming out so close to one another. But watching To the Bone first really enabled me to put my finger on what it was I liked so much about this film, and why it was so different to other portrayals of anorexia I've seen. It really allowed you to get into the mind of the sufferer, and drove home the fact that it is more than just not eating, that it is all consuming and that it becomes your reality. Where I saw To the Bone as a kind of surface level exploration of the disease and the way it's perceived by others, that ultimately added nothing much to what people already know about it, you can see that Feed was created with the sole intention of allowing people to empathise and understand this condition more. It let us get into the mind of the individual rather than just watch them, and not once did I feel as if it was used as a plot device or a quirk to drive another story.
Anorexia never had to even be said out loud, and yet we saw it through Liv's visions of her brother, who I suppose is the physical incarnation of the voice that an individual hears. The way it was done was very clever, and less obvious. The whole thing was beautifully shot, acted and written. Lastly, I thought the ending was very, very realistic and true to how an individual with an ED really moves on with their life, and the nature of recovery.
